About The Writers

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Your Manuscript on a Diet

By David Sharp

I like to think my writing is succinct. That doesn’t mean it
is. I recently learned at the NCW
Conference that editors frown at manuscripts more than 90,000 words. Especially
from debut authors. Mine stood at 100,000. I now had the equivalent of five chapters to cut. Yikes! Where to
begin…

My manuscript was fat. Now, I could have whined that I had
world-building elements, or that I had a lot of story to pack into
those pages. Both are true. But if 90,000 words is the competitive length, I
wanted my story to run on lean muscle when it sits on a shelf in the same store
as all the New York Times Bestsellers. Time to hit the treadmill.

Nigel, we're losing altitude.
Cut a few more adverbs loose,
would you?

I really like adverbs. I know they’re a bad habit,
but I totally use them anyway. Unfortunately, they are often
unnecessary. They’re like sprinkles on donuts. They don’t really add to
the taste, but they absolutely add to the calories. It’s easy to feel they improve clarity or description and occasionally they do. Use
them only when they are completely essential to the meaning of the
sentence.

Prepositional Phrases

On the whole, we use prepositional phrases for
clarity. In the writing process, they can add to your word count more than
adverbs. Use them lightly in your writing. Readers can infer the
meaning of the sentence on their own without them. In your own work,
be especially mindful of introductory prepositional phrases. Remember,
like adverbs, prepositional phrases can be necessary for clarity. The
trick is determining when you need them.

Redundancies

Redundancies are paired words that don’t add any meaning. Completely
eliminate them from your writing. If two words mean the exact same
thing, you don’t need them both. Redundancies can be tricky to find since
they exist in common everyday speech. Learn to recognize them and
your writing will evolve over time.

Just lose them. They add no meaning whatsoever.
So get rid of them. This includes the phrase “There are.” Better ways
exist.

Unnecessary Scenes

These are tough, but eliminating an entire scene can cut a
lot of words. To determine whether a scene is necessary, I describe what that
scene supplies to the story in one sentence. “The iceberg hits the Titanic
causing the ship to sink.” Can the plot live without it? Nope. That scene better
stay. “Passengers get bored waiting for their watery demise and play shuffleboard.”
We don’t need that one. In my manuscript, I noticed a scene that initiates
a plot device a character later reports in two lines. Those two lines
could stand in for the entire scene, and now they do.

There are always exceptions. My manuscript still has some
adverbs, prepositional phrases and empty words, and so does this article. But now they are deliberate. Do you have an overweight manuscript? I culled 10,000 words from mine. For more tips on how to get your manuscript in shape, check out these additional resources: